Foam-Negative Materials

Lipid-binding proteins (LBPs) were used to indicate problems with beer foams and to highlight the presence of foam-negative materials in beer. Although LBPs could be added to a beer, a preferred method of analysis involved immobilization of these proteins on a column. Beer was then passed through the column, and an improvement in foam performance was associated with the removal of foam-negative materials by the column. A wide variety of lipids was shown to bind to the immobilized protein, including fatty acids ranging in size from C6 to C24 as well as phospholipids. A survey of commercial beers found that many demonstrated moderate improvements with passage through the column, while a few showed very considerable improvement.